


Humanity

by laireshi



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Character Study, Fighting, Incest, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-15 18:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18675394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laireshi/pseuds/laireshi
Summary: “Dante,” V speaks.“Vergil,” Dante answers.Ah, so there it is, the way to make V lose his cool.





	Humanity

**Author's Note:**

> So it's V's b-day today _and_ I found out it's spardacest week on twitter. I'm still fascinated by V and Dante, so this happened.  
> (I looked at the prompts list and obviously focused on "fight!", and then this ended up somehow less violent and more character-focused than I imagined.)

Dante watches V a lot while they wait for Trish and Lady to arrive. If V is bothered by the scrutiny, he doesn’t show it; in fact, he doesn’t show much of his emotions at all. Dante’s starting to _want_ to push his buttons. It’s not surprising, considering; the only surprising thing is that neither of them has attacked the other one.

 _Yet,_ Dante finishes the thought and smiles grimly. Whatever happens between them now, V is going to lead Dante to kill the other half of his own soul. Vergil could never make things _easy_ , could he?

V is reading his damn book again. Dante’s pretty sure he’s got it all memorised by now, especially since he seems to remember it from their childhood: a part of Vergil he’d never shared with Dante, that Dante had never been interested in to start with. It annoyed him then that his brother didn’t seem to need him the way Dante craved his attention and it apparently still annoys him now, after years of betrayal and despair and mourning.

Damn it all.

Dante crosses the room and snaps the book out of V’s grasp. V presses the end of his cane to Dante’s throat before he even straightens. Too fast reflexes, even in this weak—human—body, demons for servants, all that power locked in the ink of his tattoos and dye of black hair that swirls away to reveal his natural white. He makes a lousy impression of a real human being. Dante’s not sure if V is even aware of that, which just makes the whole thing sad. A human version of his brother who doesn’t even understand what his new existence _means_. 

(As if Dante does.)

“Dante,” V speaks. 

“Vergil,” Dante answers.

 _Ah_ , there it is, the way to make V lose his cool. A shadow passes over his face and he pushes his cane forward. It’s sharp as any blade, but Dante’s already moving away. Vergil, the true one, was perhaps the only person to fight him as an equal; V rather lacks the sheer demonic power at the moment.

It certainly doesn’t stop him from trying. He keeps his demons to himself, instead he just follows after Dante, getting up and swinging his cane like Yamato. Dante catches it easily, one-handed, his other hand still holding V’s book, and they stare at each other over it. Dante’s almost sure not all of the hatred in V’s expression is aimed at him; maybe not even most of it.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t know?” Dante asks.

“ _A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent_ ,” V intones.

Dante almost laughs at him. “What else was a lie, then?”

V tries to wrestle his cane away from Dante’s grasp to no avail. “Nothing,” he says in a low voice. 

“And why should I believe that?” Dante challenges. He pushes V away, hard enough to make him stumble, keeps his cane in one hand. He can feel it humming with demonic energy under his fingers; not even half as strong as Rebellion is, and yet so much more than a normal human should be able to bear. 

“Would I be here unless I had to?” V asks back.

Dante winces. That one hurt, a reminder that Vergil chose falling into hell instead of staying by Dante’s side the one time he had a choice.

But then V raises one corner of his mouth in a smile. “Vergil was a fool,” he says. “If only he’d let himself stop . . .” There’s something like regret in his voice, which as far as Dante’s concerned, makes no sense. Vergil never had time for pesky emotions like that.

Then again, isn’t V exactly the side of Vergil he’d tried to keep buried, and finally cut out once and for all?

His mere existence is giving Dante a headache, and the worst part is how he can’t quite stop himself from caring. V is Vergil at his most vulnerable, and still Vergil enough to be aware of that and despise it utterly. Dante’s not sure what to do with him. 

He throws the book back to him. V catches it and immediately runs careful fingers over the cover, as if assuring himself it’s real. “If you wanted my attention, all you had to do was ask,” he says coldly, calmer now that he has his one treasure back. He stands straight and proud, like he doesn’t need the cane at all. But Dante _has_ watched him closely, and he knows that V can defy any human limits for a time, and pay the price later. 

“Ah, because we Sparda kids are so good at that.” He tosses the cane back, too. 

“I don’t need your pity,” V snaps.

“No, but you need _me_ , don’t you?” If only to do V’s dirty work for him.

“ _Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained_ ,” V mutters, quietly, as if to himself.

He doesn’t quite attack Dante this time; it’s a kiss instead.

Dante’s never thought it’d be his brother coming to him, not the other way round, and he’s not about to let the surprise stop him from kissing back, hard, not going to insult V by treating him gently. He should’ve tried riling him up earlier, if the result is _this_. 

V breaks the kiss. Dante’s about to complain, but then he sees him setting down the book and the cane like they’re precious before he steps right back into Dante’s space, digging his fingernails into his back. Dante retaliates with a grip around his arms hard enough to bruise.

V smiles, sharp and dangerous, human and yet not; Dante’s blood sings at the sight of him. It’s stolen time, days before he goes to kill the other part of Vergil, years after he killed his twin for the first time. 

“And when I kill him?” he asks against V’s lips, unable to stop himself.

V’s eyes are infinitely deep. “I’ll be free.” He tilts his head. “ _You_ ’ll be free.”

It sounds like a threat, or maybe a promise; it very probably is a lie. Dante shouldn’t trust V anymore than he’d trust Vergil. But V doesn’t leave him much of a choice, does he? Someone has to take care of this; no one else can.

The next kiss is very definitely a distraction technique, and Dante doesn’t care; he lets himself fall into V completely.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic also has a [tumblr post](https://laireshi.tumblr.com/post/184585016677/humanity) and a [twitter post](https://twitter.com/tonytears/status/1123729977294376960).


End file.
